To find this bizarre? Friend and soap

[SplodgePocket]

A friend came around earlier as I had a half day. Before she left, she said she was just popping to the loo. I then heard her call a minute later, “Splodge? There’s no soap”.

I have a dispenser, so I assumed it had run out and called back that there was some on the side of the bath. There was a pause and she called back, “No, not here”. I knew it was there so replied, “Just against the wall, behind the shower screen”. Again, a pause before a bewildered “No…”

I was completely confused now, as I knew very well it was there. I went through to the hall and she was standing in the doorway looking baffled. I went in, looked behind the screen and sure enough, there it was. I handed it to her and said, “Here, see?”

She burst out laughing and said, “Ohhhhh!! It’s shower gel!!” I was a bit confused and replied, “Well yes; soap, shower gel… whatever”. She was smiling at me a bit like I was a child who’d made a comical mistake. She said, “You said soap. This is shower gel. Show-er gel.” With the last bit really slowly, like she wasn’t sure English was my first language.

I was really taken aback. Who is this bizarrely literal? Surely it’s all pretty much the same thing? I thought maybe she was looking for a bar of soap and this was what had confused her somehow, but surely when you couldn’t see it you’d think “it must be the stuff in the bottle”? And even if you didn’t, wouldn’t you just have used the shower gel anyway?

I’ve never noticed her take things so literally before. Is it me or is this just really odd?!

Is it not transparent so that you can see it going down every time you use it - and then act to ensure that it doesn't run out?

If you drive, do you ever wait until you only have 5 miles left before you fill up or charge your car?!

Has @SplodgePocket actually said she didn't have any in the house? We know she hadn't spotted it needed replacing, but not whether she had some in the house. 🤷‍♀️

I don't think you're u reasonable to think washing hands with shower gel is fine.

You are unreasonable to use the word soap when directing your friend to the shower gel.

There's a reason we have so many common nouns - different items have different names even when they perform the same function. Hence car, bus, train, plane, tram, bicycle; they will all get you from point A to point B, but they're not fungible.

Is it not transparent so that you can see it going down every time you use it - and then act to ensure that it doesn't run out?

No, it isn’t.

If you drive, do you ever wait until you only have 5 miles left before you fill up or charge your car?!

I don’t. But all joking aside, I think you’re getting a bit obsessive about this. I hadn’t realised I’d run out of soap; it really wasn’t a major issue given that I had an alternative available. It’s not like soap is scarce; it’s very easy to replace.

She's already said it's a refillable dispenser which would suggest it's a solid, decorative one rather than a bottle of Carex that you chuck away.

I thought the same until I started using some gifted Badedas bath gelee as hand soap. It’s grim and just not the same!

Fair enough!

I wouldn’t think to wash my hands with shower gel so understand why your friend was confused.

It's a body wash still not soap, I've never in my life come across anyone who thinks "oh ill buy shower gel to use as hand soap, because everyone will know that's what it's for!" 🤦🤦

OP is still squatting here rather dementedly laughing at all the stupid people - like her friend, "not bright enough" to connect the dots but having the temerity to mock OP. The injury to her ego have been significant, poor thing. I wonder if OP will show her friend this thread?

She woul have if people had agreed with her.
Wonder if friend is on here laughing at all the replies.

But polite enough to think "hmm there is shower gel here but splodge is insisting that there is also some soap around here somewhere, so she must prefer me to use that, if only I could find it"

"They serve an identical function"

Hmm. Good luck making a cup of tea in a wine glass!🤣🤣🤣

I would’nt use or even think to use someone’s shower gel as hand soap/hand wash. I buy specific antibacterial hand wash/soap for hands and specific shower gel or oil for my body.

If you said to use the shower gel then I would but it would not be an instant go to because I’ve never ever come across anyone that uses shower gel as hand wash/soap.

That's what I gathered, but wasn't certain.

In which case, who would design a refillable dispenser without even a window to monitor the level of the contents? That's 'Design 101'!

If you do buy one that is poorly designed in this way, surely you would know that you'd have to make sure to open it up to check the level regularly?

I've never seen one of the ceramic ones with a window.

Again, yes you'd probably ideally check it occasionally and refill it when running out. Or just refill it when it has run out. Probably from spare bottle when from the cupboard.

But not remembering to always do that and occasionally being caught short is an entirely normal situation unworthy of comment.

Maybe she's on edge and worried about Splodge's reaction/criticism if she assumes and then discovers that she misunderstood what Splodge was trying to direct her to do, but without bothering/refusing to simply say "Use the shower gel - it's the same thing".

Going on this thread, OP is very much coming across as, shall we say, an extremely 'assertive' person; she reminds me of the sort who would proudly declare that they 'don't suffer fools gladly'.

Get help for your soap obsession!!

You are the one who started a thread about this - presumably looking for validation that you are so clever to realise that soap/handwash and shower gel are very similar and that your friend is so stupid for not knowing that!!

If making sure that we have sufficient soap (in hygienically accessible dispensers - so obviously not shower gel bottles tucked behind the shower curtain) in the house to wash our hands after using the toilet is 'obsessive', then I guess I am obsessed. It seems like an extremely low bar to set yourself, though.

At which point you could have said “just use the shower gel darling friend, I’m out of soap!”.

But you didn’t. And here we are.

Got this off a google search: "Yes, shower gel can generally be used as hand soap. Both shower gels and hand soaps are designed to clean and remove dirt and germs from the skin. While hand soap may have a slight edge in terms of antimicrobial properties, shower gel can be used effectively to wash hands, especially if you're out of hand soap."
The only thing I would do different to you is to have a dispenser by the sink with whatever I wanted in it - personally I don't like the way she talked to you as if you were some kind of idiot - shower gel is soap with a different name and aren't hands part of the body anyway?

Handwashing is normally on /next to the sink. I find it less concentrated than shower gel. Your friend isn’t the unreasonable one.

Pump dispensers tend to stop working once the contents fall below a certain level even when there is a substantial amount left. At least with a clear bottle you can see that is the case and unscrew the top and get the contents out as you would with a ketchup bottle.

No,because it wasn't 'there' was it? Soap for hand washing is found on the sink, not in the bath/shower

My thoughts were similar, @pollymere - I wouldn't want to put my dirty hands on someone else's shower gel. I'd have to handle the bottle far more than I would if I was dispensing hand wash from a pump, and I'd hate the thought of potentially leaving urine and faecal traces, even minute ones, on the bottle someone else was going to pick up and use in the shower.

As I said yesterday - I could be massively over-thinking this, but it is why I would have qualms about picking up the shower gel from someone else's shower.